Quoted Text

U.S. Constitution more than just a piece of paper

    Not being a devotee of late-night television, I have been told of a very insightful remark uttered by comedian Jay Leno. In noting that our leaders were talking about drafting a constitution for Iraq, he said, “Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys; it’s worked for over 200 years; and, heck, we’re not using it anymore.”
    The Constitution is honored in the sense that there are still branches of government, the president still reports about “the state of the union,” Congress does “lay and collect taxes,” and “compensation is provided to those who serve in a government post.” However, the same cannot be said about the first sentence of the main body of the Constitution: “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in the Congress ...”
    If all powers reside in Congress, why have Supreme Court decisions attained “law of the land” status? And why is law made through executive orders and presidential signing ceremonies? Not only is this abuse tolerated, it’s celebrated.
    In 1998, Clinton’s adviser Paul Begala arrogantly described his boss’ repeated use of executive orders as, “stroke of the pen, law of the land, kinda cool.” And Congress did nothing to stop this abuse.
    Laws that have been passed and reported on in this newspaper, ranging from auto bailouts, mortgage aid programs and war funds, are not powers that are vested in the Congress authorized by the Constitution. They should be rejected.
    The American people need to contact their representative and insist that they uphold their oath to defend, protect and uphold the Constitution.

    ED SURIANO
    Schenectady